News:

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Amazon Link

Main Menu

Smith-Continued

Started by 5xTippett, June 17, 2012, 16:15:23 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

creakycane, T5Video, slats and 8 Guests are viewing this topic.

Woolly Bugger

#2520

#80

88 cloudy with Scattered thunderstorms

I was hoping for a repeat of the evening sulfur hatch, took a look at the MP, the lot was empty. I was going to go upriver if there was a crowd. 

This is the most successful crop that I've seen come out of that field in 30 years!

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


I went to Sally's Pool first and caught a few on the surface. This fish was sipping right up against the far bank out of the current. Maybe about 35 - 40 foot cast with a #18 comparadun. Catching it put a smile on my face.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


The early sulfur hatch ended, and I swung a soft hackle for a while, whacking punes here and there.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


A trio of kayakers paddled by and then a flotilla of five or six came down followed by two guys who were fishing out of their yaks, one of them almost ran me over. "Sorry about that, boss," he exclaimed as he paddled away from the collision course.

Then it was time for a beer.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login



All this time thunder was booming from over the ridges to the south and the north, somehow diverted around the river.
I would not have wanted to be on a four-hour float under these conditions and I was considering bailing, but the storms passed, and the sky cleared a bit.

I hiked on down, stopping at the left-hand pool for a bit before continuing to the main attraction.

Some more kayaks and a couple of canoes passed by, and I caught punes left and right along with some better fish.

This guy put up an awesome fight on the USS One and I had some difficulty netting it as the loop-to-loop connection wouldn't pass through the top guide and my leader was 12 feet long. With some creative maneuvering and dexterity, it finally got it in the net.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


More punes were caught after that one, but the sky was darkening, and the fog rolled in, cutting visibility to around 20 feet.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Thunder was getting louder and I decided to leave as there was no indication that the bugs were going to get going this evening.






ex - I'm not going to live with you through one more fishing season!
me -There's a season?

Pastor explains icons to my son: you know like the fish symbol on the back of cars.
My son: My dad has two fish on his car and they're both trout!

Woolly Bugger

#2521

#81

85 scattered clouds and a passing shower

As I pulled my waders out, I noticed a tick crawling up the leg, damn I hate those little fuckers.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login

The spool of the CFO I barely holds a full DT 2 wt line. I've thought about cutting it in half, filling up the spool with backing and saving the other half for later.

I geared up in the empty lot and hiked in across the hay field, it was humid, and that 1/2 mile felt much longer. Relief came when I entered the woods and I continued to the left-hand pool. I picked off tick number two as I got ready to enter the pool. I startled a wood duck as I stepped into the water, and it took off downstream. Nothing much was hatching so I swung a soft hackle. My limited supply of flies was soon chewed up by pune trout. I really need to spend more time at the bench.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


A few kayakers passed politely behind me. Trout were rising in the tail of the pool, but I couldn't quite reach them on the 2 wt. I ventured out into the nearside run chest deep but gave up as the current started pushing me downstream. So, I moved on down.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


It started to rain so I took a beer break.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Kayakers in the fog.



The rain let up and I went back to fishing. Catching an occasional pune on the last of my soft hackle flies. From up above I heard a kayaking banging against rocks and as it came into view it got stuck and the womem scooted to free it and as she passed by, she complained about not being able to see the rocks in the fog. Then further up in the fog I heard two voices and the banging of boats. The fog obscured what had happened, but shortly after I saw a shoe, then a cooler, some drink bottles, and sunscreen float by.


Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login



More voices came from upstream, and I shouted, "Do y'all need any help, up there!" "We lost a paddle." "I've not seen it float by, only a cooler" I thought that it would be hung up or at the bottom of the deep pool above where I was.

Then the two kayaks came into view, one in front with a paddle and the second one in tow. They asked about the paddle again, and I verified that it had not floated by.

They continued on and I shouted to them that they could spit the paddle in two, thinking that it would be easier to navigate the upcoming rapids. Five or ten minutes later a large group floated by and one of them spied the lost paddle in a hole above me, and I relayed the lost paddle story to them and they said that the other kayakers were part of their group.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


A hatch started around 5:45, but it was difficult to see the fish rise in the fog and exceedingly difficult to keep sight of my fly on the water. Few fish were caught, I kept hoping that conditions would improve, but they didn't and by 8:00 the hatch was over and I hiked out.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login



Back at the car I found one more tick on my waders.  n!n








ex - I'm not going to live with you through one more fishing season!
me -There's a season?

Pastor explains icons to my son: you know like the fish symbol on the back of cars.
My son: My dad has two fish on his car and they're both trout!

Onslow

Damn solid fish.  That water will feel good Wed.!

Dougfish


35

Dropped down early for a halfish day.
3 trucks in the lot. b';
A 5 person spin fish group had beaten me to the destination.
I checked up above them and fished the run above the lefthanders hole.
Really foggy.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Picked up a handful of feesh before they arrived working up to me.
Had a nice convo and dropped down below them and carried on.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Not a lot of pics taken.
Distracted. Fish fumbled.
Kayakers. Kayakers failing at keeping their shit together.

But hey, new waders!
Redington Sonic Pro.
A dry day. How novel!?

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Not much happened bug wise.
One on a dry, 2 on emergers, the rest on soft hackles.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


The most interesting beer of 2022.
Not for the faint hearted.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Hiked out early. 15 feesh. Ho hum sizes.
The wife and the grill awaited.
The second season awaits.
 :cheers

"Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here?
 Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change? "
Kelly's Heroes,1970

"I don't wanna go to hell,
But if I do,
It'll be 'cause of you..."
Strange Desire, The Black Keys, 2006

driver

Peppers in beer should be a crime.

Phil

Redington Sonic Pro waders --  'c;

Hippie weird-flavored "beer" --  p;-

Nice feesh in da fog!

Woolly Bugger

#2526

#82

93 with scattered thunderstorms Gas $4.28

When I got out of the car, I could hear booming thunder as the sky darkened and the wind began to blow, that gave me pause and since I didn't have cell reception, I was unsure of the strength of the impending storm. I backtracked to pick up a signal and check the radar. Not looking good, so I picked an easy access/egress point and suited up with the thunder still booming off in the distance.

Not much of a hatch going on, so I swung a soft hackle. Never used that here before. I pulled a nice fish off of the bank. A nice brown, a little over 12 inches, which I thought was pretty good considering that I was within sight of my car. I wanted a good pic of this fish, so I used my phone. I'm increasingly dissatisfied with the Oly TG-5 as the lens coating is streaked and causes blooming highlights. I'm considering upgrading to a Sony 6600 or a new iPhone... Unfortunately, the process of using the phone with wet hands had caused some problems. I somehow switched the camera and here is the result...

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


I swung my way down the run and got a good number of strikes, but only a few hook-ups. The sky darkened and the wind kicked up, the leaves showed their underside as I was about half-way down the run and was picking up more fish, mostly punes, 6 to 8 inch brown trout and a stockbro of about 14"

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


The rain let up and the sky started to clear, so I stuck around, but then the rain came down harder and I was getting soaked, so I pulled the plug and sought shelter as streaks of lightning crossed the sky. I sat under the tailgate for a while, then the wind started to blow the rain sideways, so I retreated to the interior, where I sat while the storm passed.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


I swung down the run again and caught only punes, but I had one good fish on for a while before the hook pulled free. After 30 minutes the rain started up again and I headed home.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


ex - I'm not going to live with you through one more fishing season!
me -There's a season?

Pastor explains icons to my son: you know like the fish symbol on the back of cars.
My son: My dad has two fish on his car and they're both trout!

Woolly Bugger

#2527

#83

88 Partly Cloudy with a bit of rain.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login





I tried to get up to the river early to get some fishing in before the afternoon thunderstorms developed. I ended up a little later than planned. I drove to a spot where I want to explore more, but as I approached, I saw a car parked well below my spot and an angler walking back down the road. I figured he had just come from my planned stretch of water, so I headed on up further. I passed many other good-looking runs that I need to hit, but ended up at the damn dam where I had easy access and quick egress in case of a pop-up storm.

It was a bit early for the bugs to some off and I spent a fruitless hour swinging flies before tying on a nymph rig. I caught a few before taking a break back at the car and then headed down to the lower run. where bugs were starting to appear. I caught a couple on soft hackles, before playing the dry fly game.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


If getting the fish to rise to your fly was the game, then I was a winner. I missed fish time after time and only hooked a few, it was maddening. The hatch was sporadic and petered out after an hour or so.

Back at the car park, another angler had resigned, after I said hello, he replied with, "I hate trout fishing. The water is too cold. I only caught one fish on a beetle." I wished him well, and drove on down the river to swing some flies in another run.

I caught a few browns and some rainbows too, before calling it a day at seven thirty.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login



On the way home on 220 (a four-lane divided highway) I guy zooms past me doing at least 90 coming into my lane as he passed. Crazy, right? On down the road a ways, I saw a car on the side of the road with the driver looking under the hood, I thought that this might be the guy that passed me.  A little later, a few miles before my exit on to 68, I'm in traffic behind an 18 wheeler, another car is in the left lane passing the truck, and the crazy driver runs up behind me so close that I was certain that he was going to ram me from behind, he backs off a bit and then again accelerates to within inches off me before backing off a bit and veering off to the left lane where the other car is just about to be Infront the truck, the crazy driver runs up on this guys bumper and swerves in front of the truck causing the 18 wheeler to hit the brakes.  As I watched this, I was certain that he was going to collide with the truck. He must have missed by inches. I didn't see what happened in front of the truck but he either brake checked or just slowed down, as the truck had now slowed to 45 mph. Then the crazy driver zoomed off again down 220 to Greensboro.



ex - I'm not going to live with you through one more fishing season!
me -There's a season?

Pastor explains icons to my son: you know like the fish symbol on the back of cars.
My son: My dad has two fish on his car and they're both trout!

Woolly Bugger

#2528

#84 Gas $4.20

I was sitting on the fence when the Driver text came in; "Are you fishing today?"

It was getting late, and the weather was iffy, but this text gave me just enough motivation to go. A quick check of the radar indicated that the skys would be clear after a storm passed through.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login




After a slight misdirection and after checking out the Dogpatch I located the Driver parked among "crop circles"

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


He was down around the bend. A young mas was standing by a canoe in dripping wet clothes. He was waiting for his father to return with the truck. He and his dad had caught a dozen between them on the two-hour float. A guide was hauling his flycraft up to the flat water to fish after his clients had bailed on the trip after suffering through an hour-long thunderstorm. I can't imagine, with the current weather report, and consistent afternoon thunderstorms, that they all weren't prepared for severe weather. The guide, and perhaps he did, should have warned the dudes to bring along rain gear.




I got in to fish, there was a mudline from a little feeder creek, I started fishing down to the big run and got a grab, but the water was coming up and I bailed. The Driver and I decided to move up to find clear water. There was a good bit of fog on the water. I went downstream to swing a wet in the riffle and explore more water that I hadn't fished before.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login



I had some grabs and caught a couple of punes. The fog cleared momentarily, and I saw Driver through the mist. He was standing not far from the trial and indicated that he had caught 5 already. The water I was exploring wasn't producing so I waded back up and took some more photos of the trees and fog.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Driver hadn't moved more than 20 feet and had caught a dozen on a soft hackle using his new neon greer one wt rod.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


He continued to whack 'em as I moved to the top of the run.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


There had been a short-lived sulfur hatch that lasted about 10 minutes.

He hollered that he was done and took off while I remained and swung my way back down to the path, catching punes along the way. I had one nice fish hit the fly, leap out of the water, and unbutton the fly. Then I caught a fugly stockbow, that had eaten a squirmy worm, and egg pattern and a jig hook, don't ask how I knew.

I didn't catch a lot of fish but I learned a little bit more about this section of the river and am convinced that it would light up during a decent hatch.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login
















ex - I'm not going to live with you through one more fishing season!
me -There's a season?

Pastor explains icons to my son: you know like the fish symbol on the back of cars.
My son: My dad has two fish on his car and they're both trout!

Woolly Bugger


#85

85 scattered clouds

I hit a new to me stretch of the upper river. The long riffles looked like a good place to swing a fly. There were a few sulfurs popping off and I saw a trout rise here and there, but nothing steady. I only managed to catch a few small browns and I bailed on that spot after a couple of hours and moved on up. On the way I ran into VDWR clearing some land and dumping gravel. He mentioned the troubles that they had launching the raft when they sampled fish. Although it's not a ramp it is an access point with a drop of several feet to the water.



As I waded down to the next run I saw risers and thought that the game was on. Well, it didn't work out that way at all. By the time I got there the bugs shut down, fish stopped rising and I only caught a few trout. I moved on.

At my last stop of the day, I started at the top and caught a couple of trouts, before I notieced that there was a flyfisher at the bottom of the run fishing the pool. He got out and was standing by his truck.  I figured I could now swing down to the top of the run. But as I was working my way down he jumped back in at the bottom, well crap. I waded back out and wen to the end of the path where driver had some success when we fished the other day. That water is swift and knee to mid-thigh deep. I wanted to get to the middle where the current was a bit softer, but I didn't have firm enough footing to try. So I hung close to the bank and threw the one wt as far as I could. I hooked a nice brown on the swing. Oh, crap, how am I going to land this fish on this rod in this current. After a while I got the fish up close enough to net. I needed a net man, I tried my best but the current was too strong to move and as I tried to get the fish up the hook pulled out. 15, maybe 16 inches of beautiful butter brown trout lost. I continued to fish for a while, but my heart wasn't in it any longer.

 
ex - I'm not going to live with you through one more fishing season!
me -There's a season?

Pastor explains icons to my son: you know like the fish symbol on the back of cars.
My son: My dad has two fish on his car and they're both trout!

creakycane

#2530
 Two or three dump trucks went past me when I was fishing the the upper River Monday,  and I  wondered where they were going. Now I know!

Dougfish

Ooo, a better raft put in. I likey!
"Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here?
 Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change? "
Kelly's Heroes,1970

"I don't wanna go to hell,
But if I do,
It'll be 'cause of you..."
Strange Desire, The Black Keys, 2006

Dougfish

#2532
39
I was going. Then I got delayed. And the forecast was changing rapidly.
Finally arrived and hiked in by 11. Raincoat was packed.
Foggy. X10.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


New rod.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


9', 5 wt, small shop graphite blank, Graywolf crafted.
I love it. First experience with a Wulff Triangle Taper line. Pretty sweet combo.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Not much happening. Had to make it happen on my own.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


It had started booming a couple of times and had chased me to the bank.
I checked the radar and it was looking shitty in 45-60 min.
I started up the trail. And found Woolly almost to me.
I told him I was going up closer to the field so I'd be ready to bug out faster.
I stopped to fish to some rising fish a few hundred yards upstream
and as soon as I was midstream and hooked up to a fish, it started pouring.
Landed the fish, waded over to shore and jacketed up.
Caught another and then WB hollered at me from the trail. We boogied out.
No lightning. Got to the vehicles just as it quit.  :laugh:
I headed upstream, he followed a bit later.

I caught a few small fish and he moved down below me.
I finished up my run and moved down to find the bossman in the stew.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


There was activity in that run!
We whacked a few each before I left him to soldier on.
Stockbros.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Trumpet Creepers were dropping blossoms.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


 :cheers

"Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here?
 Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change? "
Kelly's Heroes,1970

"I don't wanna go to hell,
But if I do,
It'll be 'cause of you..."
Strange Desire, The Black Keys, 2006

Woolly Bugger

#2533

#86

80s Partly Cloudy, Passing Thunderstorms, gas $4.08

Dougfish and Chuck were in the lot when I got there, it was cloudy and humid, and I was sweating during the 1/2-mile hike across the field. Not much relief in the shade and I couldn't wait to get in the water to cool off. Thunder boomed in the distance as I swung my fly. I caught a couple of decent fish along with some punes. I tried to take a photo of the better brown, I was unable to get the iPhone to work with wet hands. n!n  I've ordered a FJORDEN grip from a Kickstarter that promises "turn my iPhone into a DSLR". There have been some delays in shipping, I now expect to see it by the end of the month. I've given up on the TG, as the image quality has been degraded as the lens coating deteriorated.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


The fog was so thick that I didn't see Chuck working at the lower end of the pool until it cleared momentarily, and I didn't notice when he got out and passed me on the trail. Moving on, I hiked on down to find Dougfish. He was coming up the trail and mentioned that he was moving up to be closer to the vehicles, so that he didn't have to cross the field in a lightning storm. As I got down to the pool to fish, thunder boomed and it started to rain, and his words echoed in my mind and the unsettling thought of getting struck by lightning caused me to fish poorly and I bailed as the rainfall increased. Hiking up the trail, I hollered at Dougfish and said, "Fuck this shit, I'm leaving!"

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


We hiked out together, by the time we got out, the rain had slowed down, he wanted to fish where he could get out quickly in case the weather turned bad. He drove on up the road, and I headed into town to get some gas as I was close to empty. (The car said 12 miles, I've never been quite that low before and have never found out how accurate that indicator is. I remember on some of my older vehicles with just an analog gauge, I had driven around to find out exactly when "E" was really empty!)

Back on up the road I found Doug fishing a run and watched him catch one as I was drinking a beer. I headed down to the lower spot and swung a fly without much luck. When the fish started rising I switched to a dry but realized that my "day box' of flies got soaked by the rain.  I tried to revive them, but they wouldn't float very long.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Doug came down and joined my and he whacked a few stockbros, and I worked a fish until I finally hooked it. It was a better rainbron and put up a good fight on the USS One, I just about got it to the net before it unbuttoned.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Doug left as the hatch dwindled and I followed shortly.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


I moved on down to my evening spot on the way home and swung up a handful of trouts.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


I thought about going to another spot but sat down to have a beer. A truck pulled up at the end of the log and two young guys geared up with waders. Another truck pulled up and parked in the corner, and the guy put up a sunblocker on the windshield and was messing around on the passenger side, I think he's sleeping there. Then the two other guys got back in their truck all wadered up and headed somewhere else. This is a strange spot for sure. I finished my beer and observations and headed home.

I'm using an old iPhone as a dashcam for now...

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login





iPhone Camera Grip - Fjorden
ex - I'm not going to live with you through one more fishing season!
me -There's a season?

Pastor explains icons to my son: you know like the fish symbol on the back of cars.
My son: My dad has two fish on his car and they're both trout!

Woolly Bugger


#87

88 sunny, scattered clouds, hazy sky later in the day.

The humidity was lower today. I hit Sally's pool first and swung up a few trouts. It was mid-afernoon and some sulfurs were around. A guy in a canoe came down with his bicycle stowed in the front. Not too bad of a ride back to his vehicle once you get up the first hill! He was followed by a trio of kayakers and then a couple more.

I worked my way down to the left-hand pool, where I swung up more trout. They were rising at the end of the far side run where they are out of my reach. Next time I'll leave my vest on the bank and wade out chest deep to get to them. This photo was taken with the TG. It pretty much sucks. I'm done with that camera.  n!n All the other pics are from the iPhone.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


For some reason, I can't remember exactly what happened, but the next fish was a robust beautifully colored and spotted brown whos image I failed to capture.

On down to the final destination, I swung up some punes and worked the sporadic risers which refused everything I threw at them, 16 and 18 comparaduns, parachutes, and puff daddys all were rejected time after time. I was flummoxed, catching only the punes, oh and one chubby stockerbro. Then the fog rolled in and limited visibility to less than 20 feet at times. 

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


A hatch started around 6:00 and was over by 7:30, but few fish were caught despite getting many to rise to my fly.  -+;

Moving back upriver, I caught a few more and took a photo of the last fish of the day,

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Hiking out there were at least a dozen deer in the field.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


ex - I'm not going to live with you through one more fishing season!
me -There's a season?

Pastor explains icons to my son: you know like the fish symbol on the back of cars.
My son: My dad has two fish on his car and they're both trout!